Fay E. Davis (1916-1997)

Biography

Fay Elizabeth Davis is one of those female artists who leave one asking "What if?" about their possible careers. Her early work, including three Post Office murals, shows considerable talent and a fascinating range of styles. But she seems not to have pursued an intensive career in art after her marriage to a fellow artist.

Fay Davis was born in Indianapolis, IN in 1916 and studied art at the Herron Art Institute, graduating in 1938. Her talent was recognized immediately when her entry in the 1938 Indiana Art Exhibit at the Herron won first prize. She was also able to exhibit at the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco in 1939.

Davis completed three Post Office murals, "Cutting Timber" for Ligonier, IN (1940), "Loading the Packet" for Chester, IL (1940), and "The Illini and Potawatomies Struggle at Starved Rock" (1942) at Oglesby, IL.

In 1943 Davis married the fellow Herron alumnus George M. Prout. The couple settled in Columbus, IN, which she worked at drafting for the Staley Manufacturing Company. She and her husband shared the studio he had set up several years previously. In 1944 Davis won first prize at the 37th Annual Indiana Artists Exhibition for her remarkable painting "Coal for Chicago."

Davis worked for Arvin Industries in Columbus from 1947 to at least 1951. In that year Prout began a lucrative line of work illustrating religious calendars. Income from that venture enabled Davis and Prout to move to Sarasota, FL in 1959. They relocated to Bradenton, FL in 1972. In subsequent years the couple traveled across the country and around the world. They went on an African safari in 1987, after which Prout painted a number of animal pictures. Davis died in Bradenton in 1997.

Coal for Chicago (1942)
Lavish Interior Scene
Young Boy Baseball Catcher

Critical Analysis

Davis's prize winning oil painting "Coal for Chicago" features a dramatic composition, with a coal barge and riverfront buildings in the background, while massive piles of coal dominate the foreground of the picture. While the coal may be bound for a lively metropolis, the port from which it is shipped has a dark foreboding about it, overwhelming by the scale of the industrial operation.

The Post Office murals that Davis painted are also fascinating. Her Ligonier, IN mural, while painted in oil, has something of the feel of a watercolor. And Davis was indeed an expert in that medium, as exemplified by her "Lavish Interior Scene." Davis's Chester, IL mural is another oil that has the feel of a different medium - in this case pastel. This was a painting that was much beloved in the town where it was painted. A postmaster famously said that if the Post Office caught fire, people should forget the mail and save the painting. But, more recently, this is another work that has suffered from the Postal Service's unwillingness to confront history. The painting depicts white gentlemen and ladies getting on board a steamer, while slaves are loading sacks onto the boat. There is even an overseer with a whip watching the workmen. Rather than acknowledge the ugly history that the painting accurately portrays, the Postal Service elected to place plastic sheeting over the artwork, probably damaging it with condensate.

Davis's third Post Office mural - in Oglesby, IL - depicts another potentially fraught topic: a battle between two Native American groups. Fortunately the Smithsonian is a little less timid than the Postal Service, so this mural has not been threatened with destruction. Like Davis's other murals, this one is striking in its style. She adopted a somewhat primitive tone for this work, departing completely from the styles of her previous murals. There was, to be sure, a lot of back and forth between Davis and her Washington employers, who insisted that she soften her images of the Native American warriors, as presented in her initial sketches. This did not prevent a controversy in 1993, when the Post Office janitor complained about the state of undress of some of the people in the mural. Fortunately the janitor's taste in art did not carry the day for the citizens of Oglesby.

There are not many examples of Fay Davis's work following her move to Florida. There are some saccharine illustrations that were probably completed in this period, but no definite dates are attached to them. Given the complexity and variety of Davis's work in the 1940s, she was obviously capable of much more interesting painting, and it seems a shame that she did not undertake such an effort later in life.

Murals

References

  1. Fay E. Davis (Wikipedia).
  2. Fay Elizabeth Davis (askART).
  3. George Morton Prout Art for Sale and Sold Prices (invaluable).
  4. The Illini and Potawatomi Struggle at Starved Rock (Indians at the Post Office).